akkiangel: Hi everyone! I'm just going to change a few things in the story so please don't be confused! Edward is a sage not a mage knight since in FE7 there was no such thing yet. Also Roland is just a normal swordsman nothing special about him!
Disclaimer: akkiangel doesn't own Fire Emblem or some of the new characters!
As Rune rode Elina towards Caelin Castle there was a pair of guards standing in her way stopping her from getting in the castle. Rune kept on arguing with the guards, but then the three people stopped when someone came into view.
"Rune?" a girl asked. Rune look past the guards shoulders to see a girl with red orange hair and pale rosemary eyes. Her age was somewhat around 18 the same age as Edward. The girl had a cloak covering most of her body, but then Rune saw a bit of red armor underneath the cloak.
"Elinsa?" Rune asked instantly as the 18 years-old girl forced her way through the guards.
"Rune why are you here? Shouldn't you be back at Etruria with Edwards?" Elinsa asked then looked to see Edward on Elina unconscious. Elinsa gasp in horror as she grab the rein of the horse and lead her inside followed by Rune.
"Who did this to him?" Elinsa asked as they ran down the halls with Edward on Rune's back.
"Some bloody bandits attacked us on his shift. A couple of them came into the tent I was in and I guess it distracted him," Rune explained, "We left a friend of mines back at the camp, because he said he'd hold them off till we get back. Elinsa do you think Caelin can lend me a couple of their men to go and defeat the bandits?"
"I'm not sure Rune, but I'll help you and I'm pretty sure Jailith will help you," Elinsa said. Rune's eyes widen from the name.
"Who is Jailith?" Rune asked but then Elinsa already opened a door. The two girls got into a room with a man that was pretty old sitting at on the table. Rune could tell he was a bishop. The bishop had blond hair with blue eyes which Rune was able to see when the bishop looks at the two.
"Elinsa is there something wrong?" the bishop asked.
"My brother is bleeding! Could you please help mend his wounds?" Rune said instantly not even letting Elinsa open her mouth. The bishop looked at the body on Rune's back and instantly motioned her to the bed.
"Place Edward over to the bed. I'll take care of his wounds," the bishop said. Rune did, and once Edward's wound was healed Rune stared at the bishop.
"How did you know my brother's name?" Rune asked.
"My name is Lucius. Your brother and I met a couple of times. You are Rune right?" Lucius asked. Rune nodded.
"How did he get that wound? It looks like someone tried to kill him with an axe," Lucius said looking at Rune's brother. Rune then explained the same thing she told Elinsa. Lucius nodded when Rune was finished with her little story.
"That explains much of it. Come we must tell Lady Lyndis about this," Lucius said and the three left the room. Rune was rather impatient and just wanted to go back to battle the bandits. While they were walking Lucius stopped walking instantly having Rune to walk into him.
"Ow! Lucius why did you stop!" Rune yelled, but then saw a girl with green hair tied to a neat pony tail and green eyes.
"Lady Lyndis. This girl here is Rune, Rune from Etruria. She is able to wield a sword better and is a tactician. She has came with her brother in search for help," Lucius said as he step aside to let Lyn see Rune.
"Hello Lady Lyndis," Rune said just nodding her head over to Lyn.
"Hello Rune. What help is it you need?" Lyn asked.
"My brother and I were attacked by bandits. I was hoping if you will lend me some of your men to defeat them... we left a friend of mines behind there," Rune said now looking at the ground. Lyn nodded.
"I would like to lend you some of our power, but then I'm afraid we are short on men. Black Fang has reappeared and so we are trying to get rid of them again," Lyn said sadly.
"Then I'd go," a male said. Everyone's attention turned to a 17 years old boy with black hair. The boy had a lot of armor on, but then he still look skinny even with the armor on. On his waist was a sword hanging from a strap around his waist.
"Who would go with you?" Lyn asked with a worried look on her face. The boy opened his mouth for a minute, but then someone else's screaming was being heard from down the hall.
"ZASH WHERE ARE YOU?" another male's voice came down from the hall. Rune blinked a couple of times. From what Rune knows Zash is the son of Lord Hector Marquess of Ostia, but then Benis, Zash's older brother, was to take the throne being born first. Since there wasn't going to be a heir to Caelin Zash would be the future Marquess as Zang would be the future Marquess to Pherae.
"Zang I'm over here," Zash said. A boy at the age of 19 then appeared. He had green hair with a scar on his right cheek. He was wearing a white tee shirt under his blue royal suit with white tee pants. On both of his side were two swords in their sheath looking exactly identical to each other.
"Hello Mother. Who is the newcomer?" the boy asked.
"My name is Rune. I'm here to ask for assistance in attacking a group of bandits that ambushed my brother's camp. We left a friend behind and I wish to go back and see if he is still living," Rune said.
"Right I will come with you," the boy said.
"Zang it will only be a party of four if you all go," Lyn said with sincere in her voice.
"No worries Mother. We will have Jailith coming with us and Maz," Zang said. Rune gave a slight cough attracting everyone's attention on her.
"Not to mention I am a tactician," Rune said, "If anything goes wrong and anyone falls during battle I will take the any punishment given to me." Lyn gave out a sigh of defeat.
"Very well you may go. We will supply you with horses the least," Lyn said as she gave Rune another Iron Sword.
"But be sure to carry another sword with you. It seems like yours will be breaking really soon," Lyn said. Rune nodded.
"You have my complete gratitude," Rune said. The four people left the Queen of Caelin standing in the hall alone to go and search for the other's joining them. In the library they found a boy at the age of 19 sitting on a table reading book. The boy was had wild untamed dark blue hair tied to a pony tail with a band of silver hair hanging in front of his face. He was wearing a dark midnight blue cape and there was a thunder tomb right next to him.
"Jailith come we will be going somewhere. Do you know where Mac is?" Zang asked. Jailith looked at Zang and shook his head.
"My apologies my lord, but I haven't seen him since this morning," Jailith said. Rune tilted her head. There were a couple of new people she just met and to make things worse they were all boys. Zang then looked at Rune and saw her puzzled face.
"Jailith, this is Rune from Etruria. Rune, this is Jailith from Etruria as well. I am--" Zang started, but then was cut off by Rune.
"Zang, the future Marquess of Pherae. Son of Lady Lyndis who is the Marquess of Caelin, and Son of Lord Eliwood the Marquess of Pharae. Zash is the Son of Lord Hector theMarquess of Ostia. Also the future Marquess of Caelin," Rune said then quickly covered her mouth.
"My apologies for interrupting you Lord Zang," Rune said instantly. Zash let out a laugh.
"No worries Rune. I doubt Zang will have your punish for interrupting him," Zash chuckled. Rune nodded, and then her expression changed.
"May we please hurry up to go and see if my friend is still alive?" Rune asked.
"Are you expecting him to die Rune?" Elinsa asked. Rune rolled her eyes.
"No I'm expecting him to keep his promise and live," Rune said, but then pulled out her sword.
"Rune?" Elinsa asked, but then her friend gave her the sign to stay quiet. Rune walked silently around a bookcase then was out of view. The first minute was silence, but then they heard someone getting slammed into the ground right after.
"Peace!" a boy's voice said and everyone ran to see who it was. When they look Rune had her sword right next to a black hair 17 years old wearing archer's clothes. On his back was his bow and can (A/N: I don't know what those things that are suppose to hold arrows in them are called) filled with arrows on his waist.
"Who are you?" Rune asked narrowing her eyes.
"My name is Mac!" the boy said instantly.
"Rune you could get off of him. He's on our side," Zang said. Rune hesitated for a minute then slowly got off of Mac taking her sword away from his neck as well. Mac sat up instantly rubbing his neck seeing if his head was still intact with his body.
"No worries I did nothing to your neck," Rune said as she put her sword in its sheath without doing her fancy twirling. Mac stood up and look at Rune.
"Who may you be?" Mac asked acting like nothing happened.
"Rune from Etruria. Now may we please go and check if my friend is still alive?" Rune asked. Zang nodded.
"About time too," Zash said and the six people left the building. Each person had a horse of their own as they departed Caelin. It didn't take long for them to get to where Rune's camp was at.
"Is this it?" Zang asked. Rune nodded as she look on the ground. The ground was decorated with dry blood and lifeless bodies were laying everywhere on the floor.
"It seems he was able to handle most of it already," Zash said as he look around. There were still two tents remain standing. One ten belong to Rune while the other one belong to Edward. Rune dismounted herself from her horse followed by everyone else. She walked over to her tent to see most of her items were still there, but then it was also destroyed. There were papers scattered everywhere with her black ink everywhere on the floor. Her quill pen was still broken in two, but the little journal was left unharmed. Rune let out a sigh before grabbing the book and heading over to Edward's tent. When she got to Edward's tent the lifeless bodies that she killed was on the ground still, but otherwise everything else was also destroyed. Rune left the tent and everyone else was staring at her.
"It seems they have destroyed everything," Rune lied as she slip her little book in her pocket.
"I guess he's dead then,"Mac said.
"Yes I agree. There seems to be a lot of dead bodies here, but then there isn't any sign of life anywhere. Let's go back to the castle," Elinsa said. Rune nodded, but then she felt something dark and cold forming underneath her. She look down to the ground to see a black circle forming underneath her. She instantly darted to the left before having to be caught in the blast of the Flux spell.
"I guess we are wrong," Rune panted as she turned behind her to see a shaman. She pulled out her sword as she glared at the shaman and everyone else seemed to have done the same thing. Jailith pulled out his Thunder Tomb while Zang pulled out his sharp swords from their sheath. Zash pulled out a steel sword as Elinsa took out her Iron Lance. Mac on the other hand grabbed his bow and arrow ready to shoot the shaman.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Zang asked looking at the shaman.
"Lord Nergal wants the decendents of Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector dead so I'm here to kill you all," the shaman said.
"Now who are you?" Mac asked trying to sound funny at the moment.
"There's no need to be telling you that since you will all die anyways," the shaman said.
"Why you...," Mac said and let go his arrow sending it straight for the shaman's head. Before the arrow could even come intact with the shaman's head he disappeared already.
"See if you can all beat me," the shaman's voice echoed through out the area. From the hills bandits and mercenaries could be seen heading towards the party.
"Dam it," Rune muttered then turned to the group.
"Elinsa I want you to take care of those with swords. Zang and Zash you take care of the bandits and try to avoid the mercenaries unless you can take them down before they can make a counter-attack. Jailith, you and Mac stay behind the front lines to attack those who may do a sneak attack on us or mercenaries. I want all of us to stay in the forest hidden so it will make it harder for them to strike us," Rune said. Everyone nodded at Rune as they got to position getting ready to attack. The bandits and mercenaries wasted no time attacking the group especially for the girls. Three bandits jumped Rune at once, except she manage to get out of the way before she could get hit by three axes at once before managing to make a deep cut in one of the bandit's backs.
"One down, and tons more to go," Rune muttered to herself. She look over to Elinsa and saw how she was getting assistance from Mac and Jailith as she takes down some of the mercenaries. Over with Zang he was running he way through bandits at a deadly speed with his twin blade swords in both hands. Over with Zash he was aiming for the neck of the bandits a lot, but at times he would make cuts on the body trying to weaken them. Then Rune turned back to the bandits in front of her paying attention to her own battle now. A bandits going against her first tried to attack her from the top, but then she blocked it trying to keep the ax away from her head with her sword. On her side she saw another bandit trying to make a swing at her side. Rune moved a bit, but then she still received a cut on her right side.
"Hey that's not fair teaming up on a lady like that," Rune said as she made a really deep cut in the bandit's legs.
"Listen girly we are bandits. We don't play by the rules," said the bandit that cut her.
"Then why not do that to Zang or Zash?" Rune hissed as she killed the same bandit that talked to her.
"Oh silly me. Looks like someone killed your heart before you could answer," Rune giggled. While she was giggling a bandit tried to sneak up on her, but then instead he received and arrows right between the eyes before he could even lift up his axe.
"Rune pay attention!" Mac yelled as he went to shoot another bandit.
"I am!" Rune yelled again as a couple more bandits started to get behind her. Zang manage to slice some bandits to dices before looking at Rune.
"Rune!" Zang yelled as he went to kill the bandits behind her, except they were too far away. By the time Zang already started to run the bandits had their axes high above their head. When he kill 10 bandits in his way the axe was already coming down at Rune's head.
"RUNE!" Zash yelled now looking over to Rune. As the axe hit the dust making a lot of dust appear they waited to see what happened. When the dust cleared Rune wasn't standing at where she was standing before, but was actually off killing different bandits besides the ones that tried to sneak-up on her. Elinsa pulled her lance out of a mercenary before looking over at what just happened.
"Wow who knew she could move as fast as Zang," Elinsa said as she moved to the side a bit, but thetip of the sword still cut her left cheek. Doing that the mercenary made a big wrong move at Elinsa as she went off on a rampage for attacking her face. Jailith and Mac sweatdropped from what Elinsa was doing right now. She was running her lance right through the mercenaries endlessly.
"If she was able to do that why didn't she do that before?" Mac asked.
"Probably, because no one strike her face yet," Jailith said as he made the symbols in the air to use the Thunder magic.
"Remind me never to hit her face then," Mac said as he went to shot another arrow at some random bandit. Little did the two know there was someone sitting in the forest on a tree... silently. Zang looked over at Rune and saw how she was acting like a lunatic while she was battling.
"Zash do you think something messed up Rune's brain?" Zang asked as he got rid of the last bandit.
"Yeah must have been when one of the bandit knocked her down with his arm," Zash said as he look at Rune who was slashing the already mint pieces of a dead bandit. Mac and Jailith came out of the forest just to see what Rune is doing. Then Elinsa went over to the group and saw what her friend was doing.
"Rune there's still the shaman left to do," Elinsa said. Rune stopped mincing the already minced pieces of the dead bandit and turned around.
"Okay it's this easy. Elinsa and Mac you will do a long distance attack weakening the shaman. Then Zash and I will hurt him more and move out of the way so Zang could do the death blow. Jailith if you attack the shaman you will have a change to get kills since Anime magic isn't good against Dark Magic," Rune said.
"You know what?" Mac asked.
"What?" Rune asked tilting her head to one side.
"One minute you are a psycho mad women and the next you are this calm serious person. It's like there's two people in one body," Mac said with a little laughter. Rune just shrugged as the group went off trying to find the shaman. Rune walked into the forest, but stopped when a rock fell from a tree. Rune blinked at the rock a couple of times like it was just her imagination. Rune stood still for a minute and was about to walk when another rock hit the ground. Rune then looked up to seethe shaman in the tree staring right at her with a sinister look. Rune's eyes widen as she got hit by a cold force.
"You guys find anything?" Zang asked Zash and Jailith. Mac, Rune, and Elinsa wasn't back yet, but then Mac came back with Elinsa behind him from a a different direction.
"You guys we found nothing! Did you find anything?" Elinsa asked.
"No nothing here," Zang said.
"Yeah same here," Zash said. After a while waiting Rune wasn't even back yet which got Elinsa worried. Actually it got everyone worried, but Elinsa was the only one showing it.
"You guys she isn't here yet! We should go and look for her!" Elinsa said.
"She could handle it by herself... I hope," Mac said looking on the ground.
"Yeah she knows what she is doing. She's smart enough," Zang said.
"Unlike you," Zash added in. Zang gave Zash a glare.
"What did you say?" Zang asked. Zash blinked a couple of times like he said nothing.
"Nothing Zang," Zash said.
"Which direction did she go to?" Jailith asked interruping the two future Marquesses before they can start a fight.
"I think she went into the forest," Elinsa said.
"Okay let's get going then," Zang said as he started to walk away from the group. Somewhere deep in the forest Rune was on the ground with her sword only 5 feets away from her reach. Rune tried to reach her sword, but then failed her attempt to reach it. She couldn't move her body anymore from the attacks she recieved. The shaman picked up Rune's sword when he went by it then look at Rune, and from the look he gave her it was an idea she might not even like.
"Rune... Nergal wants you alive, but he never said anything about harming you. I shall run your blade through your body," the Shaman said as he walked over to Rune and pierced her right in her left arm. Rune let out a loud scream as the Shaman laughed at the helpless girl.
"Guys did you hear that!" Elinsa yelled. All the boys nodded.
"That's Rune!" Elinsa yelled and ran to where the voice was coming from. Everyone started to follow her, but then Zang was ready to strike anyone if they had decided to attack the group. When they go to where the voice was from Elinsa had a really tight grip on her lance with the words die written everywhere in her eyes. They look to see Rune unconscious on the ground and the shaman holding Rune's sword in his hand.
"Come any closer and the girl's life ends here," the shaman said.
"Are you sure you could swipe that sword faster than I can get to you and slice your head off?" Zang asked.
"I know I could," the shaman said as he place the sword at Rune's neck.
"Now if you may--" the shaman then got attacked by a couple of fireballs. Zang waisted no time to placehis death blowon the shaman by making a deep cut in the shaman's chest with one stroke of a blade. Once the shaman has fallen they looked to see who cast the magic to see no one other than Edward.
"Rune!" Edward said getting off the horse, which he had borrowed from Caelin obviously, with his staff to mend his little sister's wound.
"Edward, should you be off your bed?" Elinsa asked as Rune's wounds started to disappear, but then Edward ignored Elinsa's question to ask a question of his own.
"Hows the rest of you?" Edward asked.
"Not really bad. The armor Zash was wearing pretty much did it's job, I only got a couple of minor scratches, Jailith and Mac was hidden in the forest attacking, and Elinsa... she just got a couple of cuts," Zang answered, "So who are you?"
"My name is Edward. I'm Rune's older brother," Edward answered, "Thanks for assisting my little sister in her foolish attempts."
"Foolish? She didn't do anything foolish," Zash said.
"From what Lady Lyn told me, Rune came to Caelin to ask for assistance in checking if her friend was alive or not. She could have waited for we were allheading to the same destination, but instead she just went to go andcheck,"Edward said, "IfCaelinrefused to helpRune she would then go by herself not caring ofwhat may happen."
"I offered to go with her," Elinsa stepped in.
"Indeed you did, but because she wasmy little sister. So then she would be takingyou to a battle where you both may be killed with the disavantage of numbersand types of weapons," Edward said, "And if I had not came in time she would have been dead."
"She indeed do those things, but we were the oneswho offered tohelp her Edward. You shouldn't blame her for the things she wanted to do, and if it wasn'tfor her then we'd be at a disavantage and badly injured, except she help us get through this battle with nothing besides a scratch," Zang said.
"Maybe we should try to talk this over at Caelin?" Elinsa asked wanting to get out of the forest as soon as possible.
"We wouldn't be able to see in the dark. We would have to camp out here for the night, or at where Rune's previous tents are at," Mac said looking at the sky. The sky was already dark, and Rune was still unconscious so then the entire group decided to get out of the forest and camp at where Rune and her brother was camping at the previous night. The group set up another tent so then there could be two people in each tent and the 7th person would have to do the watch-out for atleast 1 hour. Once they got Rune into her bed and ate pratically everyone went to sleep besides the two lords and sage. The three had once again carried their conversation at where it was dropped at.
"You could have been killed during the battle. You are all lords of a land, and if something happened to you then there wouldn't be a heir to the land," Edward said.
"It was our choice," Zash said.
"Then it was a bit foolish risking your lives for a girl you do not even know about," Edward said.
"How could you saythings like that to yoursister?" Zang asked.
"She's isn't my whole sister. She is more of a step-sister if you think of it. The reason why our parents died was because of her. She has some ability to foretell the future or sense danger when it is coming. The time Black Fang attacked us Rune knew nothing of it. She wearskeeps a medal medalionas a memento of her mother, except that medalion is the key to the Dragon's Gate," Edward said.
"WHAT!" the two lords yelled in surprised.
"Yes without the dragons there is no way to open the Dragon's Gate, but then the medalion has the power to do so. It has enough energy to do that, but those who aren't suppose to touch it goes insane. It would be like someone using a Beserker Staff on someone, except then that person kills everyone. Even the weakest theives could become assasins from just a touch of the medalion," Edward said, "You two are the only ones that know about this besides me. Rune doesn't even know it herself. Don't you dare tell anyone, unless the time comes and you have to tell everyone else." Little did Edward know Rune was hiding behind a tent and heard everything they were saying. She had a hurtful look on her face as she silently left. Zash saw a piece of Rune's cloak, but only a very little of it fluttering in the air on the side of the tent. Zash sighed.
"So knows now," Zash said as he left. Edward then let his head drop and stared at the fire.
"You knew she was there didn't you?" Zang asked as he watch Edward just sit down ona log (A/N: I don't know where they get the log!)
"Yes that's why I decided to tell you right there. Also it's because you are all good people, but for now I only trust you two, so don't you dare tell anyone," Edward warned.
"Fine," Zang said, "But her attempt to save her friend wasn't foolish."
"That boy didn't teach her much from how much she taught herself. She taught herself how to use swords a lot better at a fast progress just from books and her own training. Back at home she would either train all day or all night, but now she does two hours whenever she has a chance. If she has a chance to dothree hours she would take it as long as she can keep on proceeding to be one of the five best swordsmen or swordswomen alive," Edward said as he look up at the sky, "All that boy did was become her friend and get her hopes up. I blame him if anything bad happens to her, but it seems nothing had happen so I won't." Zang stayed quiet for a bit before going into his tent to sleep. Edward was the first one to take the shift, but he really wasn't paying attention to his surrounds, but was swallowed up by his thoughts while clutching his Elfire Tomb. While Rune was sitting next to a river staring down at it Zash was walking to her from behind. In her hand Zash could see a medal medalion reflecting off the moonlight.
"Rune," Zash said startling the younger girl. Rune instantly turned around as she slip her medalion under her cloak with a scared face.
"Oh Zash it's you. I thought you were someone else," Rune said with a fake laugh.
"Rune I saw the medalion. You don't need to hide it from me," Zash said. Rune gave out a sigh.
"Yeah I know," Rune said.
"So why are you here?" Zash asked looking around at the surroundings. The area was actually a bit nice. There was a river glittering from the moonlight while there was a forest to the left of him. Behind him was the camp obviously and to the right were the plains. On the other side of the river there was also a forest with a little trail in the middle of it.
"I was thinking. It was around here I met a friend of mines, but it seems he's disappeared," Rune said.
"Yes I think I could see that," Zash said, "Who was that shaman... and Nergal." Rune then stopped looking at the ground and looked at Zash in the eyes.
"Zash, Nergal is the leader of Black Fang with mysterious powers which he uses for his own evil deeds. From what my mother told me he was the one who wanted to open the Dragon's Gate, but she didn't tell me how. Nergal wants you two dead, because you are the sons of those who prevented him from opening the gate in time," Rune explained.
"Then I guess it's our turn to stop him from doing so," Zash said.
"Lady Lyndis will go against this and your fathers might as well," Rune said.
"Well we can't keep you under the protection of Caelin, Ostia, or Pharae all the time. It's better to go and stop them from causing destruction than sitting around in a castle all day wondering what will happen to you," Zash reasoned. Rune let out a sigh.
"Fine, but you will be talking to the marquesses about this," Rune said.
"Alright now go get some rest. We will see you in the morning," Zash said. Rune nodded and walked into her tent she was sharing with Elinsa as Zash walked into the tent he was sharing with Zang.
"So what's up with your sudden disappearance?" Zang asked Zash. Zash look around to see that Mac was in the tent as well.
"I was talking to Lady Rune," Zash said.
"Lady Rune? When did you started to address Rune "Lady Rune"?" Mac asked.
"She is our tactician," Zash said, but Mac didn't buy it.
"Hey Zang! Zash likes Rune!" Mac yelled making Zash sit up instantly staring at Zang.
"What! Really Zang? You know that we will be going back to Caelin tomorrow and stay there," Zash said.
"Actually I talked things over with her... and we decided that we are all going to go and face Nergal," Zang said.
"You know that's suicide, and Lady Lyn wouldn't allow it," Mac said.
"But it's better than sticking at a castle all day having to do work! I say we go with Zang's idea!" Zash said.
"Okay, if a friend of mines in then I'm in! Let's just hope Lady Lyn will allow us," Mac said.
"If she doesn't we could always sneak out like what your dad did Zang," Zash said looking over at Zang. (A/N: Yeah if you play Hector's Tale he sneaks out)
"Yeah," Zang said as he got in bed and went to sleep.
akkiangel: Sorry it's been taking me a while to update its just that the laptop won't let me post the next chapter! But now my uncle fixed it so I can now! So yay! Review please and I know my grammar is horrible so sorry about it... sometimes the words stick together, because of the idiotic file here! So sorry about that too!
